


Mr. and Mr. Reigns

by niajaxx (msfoxxyfoxxy)



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - Assassins & Hitmen, Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, M/M, Marriage, Misunderstandings, Mr. and Mrs. Smith AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-11-04
Packaged: 2018-07-24 01:03:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7487256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msfoxxyfoxxy/pseuds/niajaxx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roman (an assassin pretending to be an IT Tech) meets Seth (a spy pretending to be an Archaeologist) in Mexico while they're both on a mission. They date, fall in love, and get married, and five (or six) years later, they both realize that their safe suburban husband with the slightly boring job isn't what he says he is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, this idea came from [this post](http://hithard.tumblr.com/post/146451793906/psychrollins-hithard-i-wish-i-could-write) on tumblr. I just had to write it. The plot is different from Mr. and Mrs. Smith to keep the story short, but the main details are the same: spy couple finds out the truth about their significant other and they try to kill each other shortly after. Also, let's pretend that thick!seth and half-blonde!seth existed at the same time together.

**_ SESSION ONE EXCERPT: _ **

“How long have you been married?”

“Five _amazing_ years,” Seth replied, putting extra emphasis on _amazing_ because it was their _thing_ now to be as sarcastic and snarky to each other as possible under all of the Pleasantville sweetness.

“Six,” Roman corrected lightly. If he noticed Seth’s tone, he didn’t justify it with a reaction or a response, which just pissed Seth off even more.

Seth rolled his eyes, but his smile stayed fixed, even if it was starting to thin out. “Five to six years.”

“And why do you feel like you need to be here?” The therapist asked as she folded her hands in her lap and leaned forward slightly, waiting for one of them to reply.

After realizing that Roman wasn’t going to go first, Seth spoke up. “I actually don’t think we _need_ to be here. I mean, everything is fine. We just, you know,” He paused to look at Roman, who gave him a small smile. “This is to work out any kinks. Any wrinkles. Even the most stable building ever built must have some upkeep done on it once in a while, right, Rome?”

“Exactly,” Roman agreed.

“Very well.” The therapist said as she jotted something down quickly on her note pad.

Seth watched the movement and absentmindedly thought about sneaking in after hours to see what she wrote. She would probably side with Roman during this whole thing since he chose her. Seth had his own guy lined up, but Roman, as usual, had the last say.

“Tell me how you first met?”

You know how you have these points in your life that you remember down to the last detail? Good or bad, it’s stuck in your head and you’re able to pull it out and see it behind your eyelids like it was yesterday? The day that Seth met Roman was vividly embedded in his brain like that forever.

“It was in Mexico.” He said quietly, his chest warming up with the memory and the overwhelming, but temporarily buried and slightly muted love he felt for Roman. “Five years ago.”

“Six,” Roman corrected again.

And, just like that, the warmth faded again and he turned to give his husband a mocking smile. “Yeah. Five to six years ago.”

 

**_ FIVE TO SIX YEARS AGO… _ **

Roman took a seat at the bar and tried to look as inconspicuous as possible, which was difficult given his size. Still, this bar was pretty seedy and very lowkey, so if he kept his head down, he could blend right in. He ordered two shots of tequila and a beer and did his best to hunch his shoulders over when the cops barged into the bar.

“The assassination just made national news, man. Shit just got a lot harder.” Dean said into his earpiece. “Keep a low profile for now. We’ll try to get you outta there by tonight. Tomorrow morning at the latest. It’s too hot right now.”

“Copy,” Roman said before he downed one of the shots.

The cops were going around the bar checking for foreigners traveling alone matching a thankfully vague description of tall and long, black hair. When he was tapped on his shoulder, Roman put on his best tourist face and turned around with a confused smile. The policeman took in his shirt, khaki pants, and tour guide in his front pocket.

“Do you speak Spanish?” He asked in his native tongue, sizing Roman up.

Roman scratched the back of his neck bashfully. “I’m sorry,” He said in the nerdiest, most non-threatening voice he could muster. “I-I don’t understand.”

Lie. Roman spoke Spanish fluently along with six other languages.

The other policemen had started to take interest in him and, shit, he had to get himself out of this somehow or else there was gonna be a fight.

“I’m just on vacation. I’m meeting someone.”

“He’s on vacation and he comes to this bar?” One of the policewomen said to her partner in Spanish. “No tourists come here. Check his passport and handcuff him. We’ll question him down at the police station.”

Roman’s hand was just about to reach for his gun when another man swaggered up and clapped him on his shoulder. “There you are!” The man turned to the policemen and spoke, his Spanish and pronunciation perfect. “I’m sorry. This is my cousin. I was supposed to meet him here earlier, but I got held back late at work.” He pulled out an ID card and gave it to one of the policemen and let them inspect it.

The policeman looked suspicious, but he gave the man his ID card back and signaled to the other officers that Roman was just another tourist. “This is not a good place for foreigners.”

“We’re leaving now.” The man assured them as he watched them turn to leave. Roman watched them go as well, slightly confused, but very relieved that he didn't have to spill anymore blood today.

“I’m Seth,” The other man said as he extended a hand. “Rollins. Seth Rollins.”

He was attractive; tan and stocky with a little Cruella De Vil thing going on with his hair, which would have been stupid on anyone else, but it worked on him.

“Roman,” He said as he took Seth’s hand. The other man smiled at him and it did something pleasant to Roman’s stomach. “Thanks for saving my ass.”

“I was mostly looking to save my own ass,” Seth said. “I was being followed by cops and I tried to duck in here and then… there you were.” He took a seat on the stool next to Roman and helped himself to Roman’s other shot glass. Roman let him have it because he’d just unknowingly saved a bar full of people from getting caught in crossfire. “What are you doing here anyway? This isn't exactly the place for non-locals.”

The truth was that Roman was actually in Mexico on a job. The job was Normando Roque, a crooked politician who made a fortune on drugs and even dabbled in the trafficking of young women. He currently laid dead in his villa with a bullet in a skull and one in each kneecap, just because Roman was feeling a little vindictive.

He couldn’t say that to Seth, though.

“I do IT. The company I work for sent me here to one of their locations to do some work. I got a vacation out of it, but…” He paused to look around the shoddy bar. “Some vacation, huh? What about you?”

“I’m here on work, too.” Seth said. “I’m an Archaeologist. I’ve been studying Mayan sites here on and off for the past year or so.”

“Wow,” Roman said as he signaled for two more shots. “That’s cool.”

Seth grinned. “Are you being sarcastic?”

“No!” Roman insisted. “I think stuff like that is really interesting. I’d actually love to get to learn more.”

“Well, I’d love to give you a quick rundown one day,” Seth offered. “Assuming you’ll be heading back to American soil anytime soon.”

Roman smiled. “I’m heading back tomorrow.”

Seth hummed, and he looked slightly disappointed. “I’m here for another three weeks.”

“Well, at least we have tonight.” The bartender placed their shots in front of them and disappeared again. Roman picked up his glass and handed the other to Seth. “Here’s to dodging bullets.”

“To dodging bullets,” Seth said before he bit his lip. “And handsome strangers.”

They clinked their shot glasses and downed their drinks in one gulp.

\---

Roman didn’t believe in sentimental bullshit like love at first sight, but he got really close to it with Seth. Seth was an interesting man, full of excitement and opinions and an underlying sense of cockiness and vanity that just drew Roman in like a moth to a flame. Plus, he was damn hot and brimming with sexuality. He had an air about him, something hot and heady, that just begged for Roman to reach out and touch.

Sometime during the night or early morning, as they were walking, it had started to rain. They ducked under an abandoned or closed food stand with tin roof, giggling like children because of the alcohol. Seth looked amazing, eyes shining under the moonlight and clothes soaking wet, and before Roman could stop himself, he was grabbing the back of his neck to pull him into a kiss.

Seth tasted like tequila and food and his hair smelled smoky from the bar. Roman pushed him up against the nearest surface and draped himself all over him, trying to get _more_. It was hard to kiss when they were giggling so hard, but they made it work because they were so desperate for it. Their moans and laughter were (hopefully) drowned out by a band playing not too far away and in the back of his mind, Roman wondered if they could get away with having sex right there in the rain with a party and a band nearby.

By some miracle, they managed to make it back to Seth’s fancy hotel room without stopping to give anyone a show. Roman was barely able to get his clothes off before Seth dropped down to his knees and wrapped his lips around his cock, making Roman stumble back against the drawers and knock over some items with his flailing hand.

They fucked against the drawers because they couldn't make it to the bed, but afterwards, slow from their orgasms and the missing need to have each other **_now now as soon as possible_** , they had sex again on the bed, languidly, intimately, and it was messy and intense and perfect.

Seth was fucking _perfect_.

When Roman woke up the next morning, he wiggled himself out of Seth’s sleepy hold and went out to the balcony. He called Dean and told him to cancel the pickup and that he was staying in Mexico for three weeks. Dean was annoyed, but there was no denying that Roman deserved a vacation. Still, Dean wouldn't let him off the hook without finding out where he was staying and who he was staying with.

When Roman peeked into the room again through the curtains, he could see Seth sitting up straight on the bed. He had a toothbrush in his mouth and he was in the middle of putting his hair up in a bun as he stared at the TV screen where the anchor on the news was discussing yesterday's assassination. Their eyes met and Seth smiled around the toothbrush deviously before he pat the empty spot on the bed next to him and pushed the covers off, exposing himself to the cool air.

He was insatiable.

Thankfully, so was Roman.

 

**_ SESSION TWO EXCERPT: SOLO MEETING WITH ROMAN: _ **

“How honest are you with Seth?”

Roman thought about it. Really, really thought about it, because, yes, he was lying, but almost everything else about him besides his profession was honest. It hurt to lie to Seth, but he couldn’t say ‘Hey, honey, I’m an assassin and I kill bad guys for money and I’ve been lying to you for six years.’

“Pretty honest.” Roman said. “I mean, I don’t actively lie to him or anything. We all have our secrets. It’s healthy for people to have at least a few secrets, right?”

“Some secrets can be harmful, Roman,” The therapist said. “Some secrets can cause a huge rift between two people in a relationship, especially when they both know that the other is hiding something.”

Roman looked down at his wedding band and toyed with it for a while, a stifling feeling of guilt creeping up inside of him.

 

**_ SESSION THREE EXCERPT: SOLO MEETING WITH SETH: _ **

“What about Roman upsets you?”

Seth smirked. “Do we have all day?”

When the therapist didn’t smile at his joke, Seth scowled slightly.

“Uh, let’s see. I hate that he leaves his coconut hair treatment stuff on the counter, even after I keep putting it back in the cabinet. I hate that he makes fun of me for doing CrossFit. It’s insensitive. Oh, and the other day, I came home from a long day at work, and I wanted a little… you know," Seth gestured crudely with his fingers. "But instead, he wants to lay in bed and talk about remodeling the deck. Who cares about the damn deck?”

The therapist nodded silently and jot something down in her notepad.

Seth sighed. “Look, I love my husband. He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I do my best to make him happy. But sometimes…” He paused for a while. “Sometimes, I want to hit him in the jaw.”

The therapist shook her head. “That’s actually domestic violence, and I don’t suggest that you-”

“Hey!” Seth interrupted. “I’ll never do that, it’s just… he’s annoying, you know? I’ll never harm him.”

And it was true. Seth spied, tracked, and killed for a living. His whole world outside of Roman was violence. He wanted those things separate from his husband, who was the only constant, safe, warm thing in his bloody, sometimes hectic life.

He sighed. “I’d never do anything like that, alright? I’ll never hurt him. I love him. I love him more than myself.”

**  
**

**_ FIVE TO SIX YEARS AGO… _ **

Roman’s career kept him busy and made him travel a lot, which was perfect for Seth because he was gone a lot as well. It made it easier to lie about where he’d been if Roman wasn’t home waiting for him.

Seth had rented an apartment in New York under a fake name and invited Roman to move in with him after just five months of dating. Despite living in the same apartment, their relationship consisted mostly of calls, Skype videos, and text messages at first, but eventually, they made it a priority to see each other face to face more than not. Seth had to take less jobs, but it was worth it to able to kiss Roman and stroke his hair and let him fuck him stupid.

It was hard to lie to Roman, but it had to be done. Seth knew that falling in love and entering a committed relationship in his line of work was a really stupid thing to do, but he was selfish and he couldn’t help it. He loved his job, but he loved Roman.

Eight months after Mexico, Seth brought Roman with him to Greece. He told Roman that there was a dig site there that he had to visit when reality, he was tracking a French hacker who was there on vacation. Seth would leave Roman to explore and relax alone during the day, and then he'd return to him in the evenings. Thankfully, Roman had no problem spending time by himself.

On their third night in Greece, he returned to the hotel after a boring day of trailing the hacker and Roman was waiting for him with a glass of wine.

“Welcome back,” Roman said as he handed Seth the glass and moved to take off his jacket. “Missed you.”

Seth moaned slightly and relaxed when he felt Roman press a kiss into his neck. Roman massaged his shoulders gently for a while before he turned Seth around to give him a quick kiss.

“Missed you more,” Seth said when he pulled back, and it was true. Although he and Roman were fine with being apart periodically, Seth was starting to miss Roman more whenever he had to leave him or vice versa.

“You know,” Roman said as he began to lead Seth towards the small table on the balcony, where there was more wine and food already waiting for him. “Before we came here, I’d been doing a lot of thinking. About us.”

Seth wasn’t sure why, but he instantly became nervous. Was Roman breaking up with him? Did he find out about Seth’s secret life? Was the time apart too much?

He sat down at the table and frowned up at Roman. He was just about to ask Roman what this was all about, when Roman immediately knelt down in front of him, cutting his panicky words off at the root.

“I’ve decided that I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” Roman said as he dug into his back pocket and pulled out a little black box. “I know it’s sudden, but I love you. I can’t imagine being without you. I’ve been thinking about whether this is too soon, or if it was what I really wanted. But everything lead me to the same decision. Seth, will you marry me?”

He opened the box and Seth stared at the engagement ring inside. There was a short moment of silence before Seth surged forward and tackled Roman to the floor and planted kisses all over his face.

“I take it that’s a yes?” Roman laughed as Seth straddled his waist.

“It’s a hell yes,” Seth replied, holding his hand up so Roman could slip the ring on.

 

**_ SESSION ONE EXCERPT CONT.: _ **

“We got married in Bermuda,” Roman recalled fondly. “It was really small. Intimate. Just us and three friends. No family.”

“Yeah, but we liked it like that.” Seth said, reaching over to touch Roman’s hand.

“And after the wedding, how long did the newlywed bliss last?” The therapist asked.

“Uh, pretty long,” Roman said, looking over to Seth for confirmation.

The other man nodded. “Yeah, we were – are – smitten with each other. It never really faded. We did have our first fight really early, though.”

Roman rolled his eyes. “Here we go.”

“What was it about?” The therapist inquired.

“He didn’t want to take my last name.” Seth complained as he removed his hands from Roman's. “Instead, he wanted me to take his name. It’s not fair.”

“I’m older,” Roman explained. “So, I felt like it was only natural-”

“Bullshit,” Seth interrupted. “He thinks I should carry his name because he’s usually… you know… the ‘giver’. That is sexist.”

Roman turned to Seth and gave him an exasperated look. “That’s not sexist! I’ve never said that!” He turned back to the therapist. “I’ve never said that, ma’am.”

“I liked my name, ok?” Seth went on. “Seth Rollins rolls off the tongue.”

“Yeah, but Seth Reigns sounds a lot better, honey,”

“Call me honey again and I’ll-”

“Seth, you could have kept your name,” The therapist reminded him. “You did not have to take Roman’s last name, if you didn’t want to. Celebrities do it all the time.”

“But I wanted to,” Seth said, looking at the therapist as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I’m a traditionalist.”

“And, he knows deep down that Mr. and Mr. Reigns sounds better than Mr. And Mr. Rollins.”

Seth grit his teeth and shot Roman a deadly glare. “Do you see?” He asked the therapist, pointing an accusing finger at Roman. “Do you see the condescending attitude I’ve had to deal with for the past five years?”

Roman shifted in his seat and his brows furrowed slightly. “Six.”

_**tbc..** _


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains a rough but short fight between a man and a woman. I know that it can potentially upset some people, so I figured it's best to put a warning. Also, I actually know nothing about real spies, cool ass fights, hacking, etc, so I just went with what I learned from TV and movies. Anyway, enjoy!

Roman scrambled back on the destroyed hardwood floors as a knife-wielding woman charged at him, slashing through the air wildly. They were nearing the end of their fight and the time for flashy moves were long over. It had come down to kill or be killed, and this woman – the personal security to Gabriel Bloch, the man Roman had just ended – was determined to avenge her employer.

“You run away from me like coward,” She taunted in her heavy Russian accent as Roman rolled away from one of her slashes and got to his feet. “Fight me!”

She was fast enough when she was fighting him in heels, but after she kicked them off, she was like lightening. Roman was fast, too, but he was starting to get winded because of all the running around and dodging hits. Back in the day, an all-out brawl was something he’d happily agree to, but he couldn’t carry too many bruises on his body anymore for obvious reasons.

Roman needed to slow her down. After only taking two seconds to give it a second thought, Roman charged at her, tackling her to the floor. He was lucky enough that the knife fell from her hand on their way down and when they landed, she immediately mushed her palm against the side of his face and used her elbow to hit him in the jaw, sending him reeling back.

Roman was stunned and his nose hurt like a bitch, but he didn’t have time to worry about that because she was crawling away, trying to get the knife again. Roman grabbed her by her partially unraveled bun and pulled her back, dragging her closer towards him. She turned around and swept a leg under his feet, but he dodged it and bent down to put her in a chokehold.

“Lana!” A voice called from the doorway, momentarily pausing the fight. Roman looked up to see the brute of a man that he had taken down in the hallway along with his friends earlier. Roman didn't kill him because he always made a point of keeping the body count as low as possible. He did injure him, though. Dislocated his arm and knocked him out with the heel of his boot with a spin kick. Obviously, however, he’d woken up from his nap.

“Rusev!” The woman – Lana – said as she struggled the get out of Roman’s hold. “Shoot him!” She yelled in Russian. “Shoot him now!”

The man pulled out his gun and aimed it at Roman, but he hesitated.

Finally, a leverage.

Roman lined his body up with Lana’s as much as possible so all of their vital organs were more or less in the same place.

“You kill me, you kill her. You try to be smart and give me a nonfatal wound and I’m snapping her neck.”

“Do not listen to him, you idiot!” Lana spat again in Russian before Roman tightened his arm around her neck, cutting off her words and air supply.

Roman had an emergency escape route planned, but he had to jump out the office’s window. He inched closer to it, dragging a struggling Lana with him, making sure that his eyes never strayed from Rusev. The moment Lana stopped struggling, Roman knew that she was passed out and that was his cue.

“Instead of shooting at me, you should give her CPR,” he said before he jumped up on the short ledge and drop kicked Lana’s limp body towards Rusev before he pushed himself backwards out the window. He landed on a window washer’s platform a few feet down, just as he planned. Although he braced himself for the fall, it still knocked the wind out of him, and thankfully, Rusev took his advice and didn’t shoot after him. He had a quick moment to breathe and feel around for any injuries.

“You still alive, bug guy?” Dean’s voice crackled from his earpiece.

“Yeah,” Roman groaned as he got up and started to make his decent down the side of the building. “Just had a hiccup with a she-demon straight outta hell. I’ll meet you at the rendezvous point in 15.”

“Speaking of she-demons…” Dean singsonged. “Your fake office phone has been ringing off the hook. I finally answered it and it was your beloved. Apparently, you’re late for some dinner with the neighbors and he would like you to call him as soon as possible.”

Roman sighed and groaned. He actually wished Rusev would’ve shot him.

\---

“You’re late,” Seth deadpanned as soon as Roman stepped through the door. “I asked you to be here at 8. I had one simple request.”

“I know, baby,” Roman said as he bent down to kiss Seth’s cheek. “I got held up. I couldn’t avoid it.”

When Roman went to pull back, Seth caught his chin and tilted his head up. “What is that?”

“What is what?”

Seth’s eyes narrowed and his grip on Roman’s chin tightened slightly. “You have a bruise on your neck, Roman.”

Roman pulled back and felt around his neck until he came in contact with a tender spot and poked it. It may have come from his fight with the angry Russian earlier. Shit.

“I don’t know, Seth.” Roman said with a shrug as he pulled his collar up a bit higher. When he did that, Seth’s eyes moved from his neck to his hand and a strange look came over his face before he met Roman’s eyes.

“Where’s your ring?”

Roman’s hand quickly moved to his ringer finger and, fuck… He’d forgotten to put his ring back on. He pat his pockets and hoped to whatever God was out there that he didn’t leave it in the showers back at the headquarters.

“Roman!” Seth snapped, halting Roman’s movements. “Where is your ring?”

The lie came to Roman so easily that it was scary. “I went poking around in some wires in the database and I didn’t want it to snag on anything, so I took it off. I must’ve left it at work. I’ll get it first thing in the morning, I promise.”

Seth’s breathing had gone heavy like it always did when he was concealing his rage, and by the suspicious, angry look on his face, Roman knew that he didn’t believe him one bit.

 

**_ SESSION SIX: SOLO MEETING WITH SETH: _ **

“I think Roman’s having an affair.”

The therapist paused her notetaking to look at Seth with a vaguely confused look on her face, like she wasn’t expecting him to say something like that. To be honest, up until about a year ago, Seth felt the same.

She put her pen between the pages of her notepad and closed it before she set it aside, giving Seth all of her attention. “How do you know?”

“He’s been weird lately,” Seth said before paused to worry his bottom lip. “And we don’t have sex as much as we used to. He’s always tired. I think he’s… Maybe he doesn’t think I’m hot or something anymore. Kept telling me I was getting thick.” Seth paused and he took in a shaky breath. _Don’t cry in front of the therapist. Don’t cry in front of the therapist._ “But he said it like it was a good thing. I don’t know. Maybe he was just trying to spare my feelings.” Seth cleared his throat and immediately switched from being despondent to pissed off. “Regardless, he’s been distant.”

The therapist crossed her legs. “Well, Seth, let’s not jump to conclusions. The lack of intimacy or the apparent lack of attraction can be caused by many different factors. Maybe Roman’s distance has to do with the space that’s growing between the both of you or the boredom with your lifestyle that you both feel.”

Seth rolled his eyes. “He came home with a hickey last night and no wedding ring. I think it’s pretty safe for me to jump to conclusions.”

The therapist was quiet for a while before she spoke up again. “When it comes to infidelity and what I can do, I’ll need to see you two at the same time to hear both sides and help you to work through it. I’ll need to have an open conversation with you both to evaluate your relationship’s strengths and weaknesses so I can see the cause for the infidelity. Then, we can work out-”

“I don’t care about why he’s cheating!” Seth snapped, causing the therapist to cock her head back in shock. “I don’t care about working anything out, either! If he’s cheating, it’s over. Point, blank, period.”

“But first you need to be sure that he is _actually_ cheating. Have you confronted him?”

“I don’t need to. I’ll find out,” Seth said as he started working a plan out in his head that included his unlimited resources and a handful of agents who were willing to do what he asked without questions. “I have my ways.”

 

**_ FOUR DAYS LATER… _ **

Roman wasn’t a spy, but he was given the minimum amount of skill that it took to be one. He developed a keen sense of awareness, and one thing he mastered was knowing when he was being followed.

For the past two days, a beat up 1996 Acura Integra had been following him. He managed to lose them the first day, but on the second day, when he thought he’d lost them, he’d actually led them within the vicinity of the headquarters before he realized that he was still being followed. He had to pretend to stop at a coffee shop a mile away before abandoning his car and losing them on foot, which took a half hour because the guy was hard to lose. That _proved_ he was trained.

That wasn’t good.

To make matters worse, the guy had begun tracking Roman a few streets away from his _house_ , which meant that he knew where he lived and most likely knew about Seth. That alone gave Roman the incentive to catch this guy because he did everything in his power to make sure Seth was safe. This agent, whoever he was, threatened that.

On the third day, Roman left home at 8am, as usual, and allowed the guy to follow him into the city. Roman parked his car at the same parking lot as before. He got out of his car and walked slowly at first, pretending to be engrossed with his phone. He entered the parking lot elevator to go back down to the first floor, knowing that the man will take the stairs to keep up with him.

When he reached the first floor, Roman tucked his cellphone in his back pocket and ran over to the stairway doors, ready to attack whoever came through. A few seconds later, the door cracked open an inch and Roman immediately took action. He pulled the door back and grabbed the man and pushed him against the wall.

“Who are you?!” He snarled in the man’s face. “Why are you following me, huh? Who do you work for?”

The man didn’t say anything, he just continued to stare at Roman in disbelief until he seemed to snap out of it and he head-butt Roman _hard_. Roman stumbled back and the other man tried to use the opportunity to get away, but he didn’t get far because Roman was able to get a tight grip on his jacket. The man turned around and threw a punch, but Roman moved his head to the left and avoided the fist and blocked the other punch that came towards him with his forearm.

Roman caught both of the man’s arms and kneed him hard in his stomach before he hauled him up and pushed him against the wall again, pinning him with a forearm against his throat. “I won’t ask you again,” He threatened. 

Once again, the guy didn’t reply. Instead he managed to get a leg up to knee Roman in his side and when Roman’s hold slackened, he wriggled out and dropped to the ground in a heavy heap before he scrambled up and ran off.

Roman breathed harshly through the pain as he pulled out his cellphone. He had to call and inform the agency that his identity may have been compromised. He didn’t bother to chase after the other agent. The tracker he stuck on his jacket will eventually reveal who the hell he was and who he worked for.

\---

 

“Seth, you told me this would be an easy job!” AJ yelled as he limped into Seth’s office. “I was supposed to try to track down a cheating husband, not get my ass kicked!”

Seth was in the middle of researching an upcoming target when AJ burst into the room looking horrible. His usually ridiculously and meticulously styled hair was sticking up everywhere and there was a big read spot on his forehead that would have been funny under any other circumstances.

“What the fuck happened?!”

AJ sat down gingerly in one of Seth’s chairs. “Your husband is what happened. Have you been teachin’ him how to fight?”

Seth frowned. “No. He found out you were following him? But, how?! I told you to be careful!”

“Seth, I was careful.” AJ insisted. “Somethin’s not right here. He lured me into a parking lot and confronted me. He moved like he had some training. Kept asking me who I worked for. He knew I was an agent. Is he ex-military?”

“No! He’s an IT geek. A gentle giant. This… this isn’t making any sense. First the call logs, now this.” Seth bit his nails and stared off into space, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

“What about the call logs?”

Seth typed something on his computer and turned the screen for AJ to see. “I asked Sasha to get access to his cellphone carrier two days ago to see if I could get a call list. He’s supposed to be with Verizon, but he didn’t come up as a customer.” He pointed to Sasha’s emails and notes. “While he was asleep last night, I plugged his phone up to my laptop and tried to get into it like that, but our programs didn’t recognize the phone company. He has like… an unhackable burner phone. I couldn’t get into it for the life of me.”

AJ ran a hand through his hair and squinted at the screen. “Seth, his phone looks like some high tech shit.”

“Exactly,” Seth said. “Looks like an iPhone on the outside, but it’s locked up tight. I sent Sasha a digital copy of all the files on the phone. She got back to me an hour ago and said she got something she wanted me to see. I put it off because I’ve got another mark coming up and I had research to do, but maybe we should pay her a visit now.”

“Right behind you,” AJ said as Seth walked briskly out of the room. They weaved between bustling agents as they made their way to the highly classified area of the agency headquarters. As they made their way past the guards, however, there was a loud, warning beeping noise, halting them in their tracks.

“Something set off the security alarm. May be a glitch.” One of the guards said as he stepped forward to scan Seth with a handheld detector. When the detector didn’t make a noise for Seth, he turned to scan AJ.

The detector started to wail as soon as it passed over AJ’s back and he removed his jacket and let the guard scan it again. Once again, the detector’s alarm went off again and the guard felt around in AJ’s jacket before he pulled out a tiny device.

“The hell?” AJ asked as Seth snatched the device from the guard’s hand. He studied it for a few seconds before his eyes widened and he dropped it and stomped on it. “It’s a tracker.”

“That son of a bitch put a tracker on me?!” AJ spat. “No wonder why he didn’t chase me. He wanted me to come back here. Seth, I don’t think it’s farfetched to say that your husband ain’t who he says he is.”

Before Seth could even get his racing mind under control, Sasha came jogging towards him with two tablets in her hands.

“Seth, you may want to see this,” She said, out of breath, as she pushed a tablet towards him.

Seth took the tablet numbly and stared down at the screen where there was a picture of Roman seemingly taken from a security camera. The Roman in the picture had on shades, but Seth could recognize him everywhere. And, he could see his tattoo coming out from under his rolled up shirt that was splattered in blood.

“I did some digging on Roman because I had to find out why he had a fortress for a phone, and turns out that Roman Reigns technically doesn’t exist.”

Seth shook his head as if he was trying to clear it. “What are you talking about?”

“There’s no Roman Reigns. Period. However,” Sasha said, as she brought something up on her tablet. “I used the picture you have of him on your desk to do a facial scan. Nothing came up in America’s general public database, but I got a match in Samoa.” She flipped her tablet around so Seth could see the ID picture of a young Roman. He was a cute kid with short hair and bright eyes. Seth realized then that he’d never seen a picture of Roman when he was younger until now. “He was born in Samoa and somehow he ended up here in America sometime in his early teens and everything about him has been erased from public records since. He has no family, no dental records, no fingerprints… Nothing!”

Seth stared down at the smiling picture of Roman. He was struggling to process everything. It was like Sasha was beginning to speak another language.

“I managed to wring out a serial number from his phone, but not much else. After an hour of digging, I traced it back to a Japanese company who makes and distributes military grade weapons and technology.” Sasha paused for a while, scanning Seth’s rapidly paling face. “Assuming Roman was dangerous, I looked into past news feeds for criminals who matched his description. Only one came up that wasn’t omitted. A murder took place in Argentina and the security camera captured the suspect.”

Seth turned to look at the semi-recent, bloody image of Roman on his tablet and he felt like he’d been punched in the gut.

“Seth,” Sasha said finally. “Roman Reigns isn’t the guy you married. ‘Roman’ doesn’t exist. For all we know, he may have been using you to get to us.”

Seth saw red and his disbelief was overtaken by anger. He turned and hurled the tablet at the nearest wall, startling everyone around him. Suddenly, as if he’d gotten a kick in the ass, his mind actually started to work properly again.

“Call Hunter down in Dallas and inform him that an unknown enemy managed to trace one of our agents back to the base. Sasha, I want all of our computers except for the secondary databases offline. Temporarily swap out our files for the decoy and if you see anyone we don’t know trying to get access, let them snoop around while you get whatever information on them that you can!”

“On it!” Sasha said before she ran off.

Seth turned to AJ. “I want snipers on the roof and I want extra security on the door. I doubt we’ll get attacked, but it’s better to be safe.”

“And what do we do about Roman, boss?” AJ asked. “Want me to call in a hit?”

“No!” Seth snapped as he loosened his tie and turned to stalk off. “You stay here and keep everything under control. I’ll handle Roman. If anyone’s gonna kill that son of a bitch, it’s gonna be me!”

\---

“They found and destroyed the tracker and they’re locking everything up.” Dean said into Roman’s earpiece. “We were getting comfortable going through their shit and but all of a sudden, we get kicked out. I tried to go back in, but everything’s replaced with nonsense.”

“Hmm,” Roman hummed as he peered through the window a block away from the spy headquarters that was masquerading as a trading building. Roman knew, however, that there was definitely some espionage shit going on inside.

He’d arrived at the apartment complex 10 minutes ago and was currently sitting in some dude’s apartment, surveying the building. The apartment’s owner was sitting a few feet away from him, stock still, as he “allowed” Roman to borrow his window.

Actually, Roman had threatened him. He could have just used an empty apartment, but this one in particular offered him the best view of the entire building from a safe distance, from the roof to the front doors.

“I managed to copy some files before they closed up, though. Of course, everything’s encoded, so it’ll take us a while to actually read anything.” Dean drawled on.

Roman watched through his binoculars as men in black swat-like armor started to file out on the roof of the building. They began to position themselves all around the rooftop’s perimeter

“Looks like they know they’ve got company.” Roman chuckled as he uploaded the view from his binoculars to Dean and the team back at the base.

“Jeez. That’s a lot of snipers.” Dean said. “And I bet they have some posted at buildings surrounding the area.”

“Good thing I’m a block away and have no interest in storming in there, guns blazing.” Roman said as he looked down at the front door again. There was a man stepping out of the building and Roman focused his binoculars so he and everyone else watching back at the headquarters could get a look.

It took a few seconds to focus on the man who was walking at a brisk, angry pace, but when he stopped at the valet and started yelling at the kid, Roman got a good look and his heart seized when he saw the hair.

“Seth?” He whispered as he blinked a few times, just to make sure his mind wasn’t playing tricks on him.

There was no mistake. That definitely was Seth.

The first thing he thought was that these guys, whoever they were, had gotten to Seth and had just released him for whatever reason. Then, he realized how stupid that was, especially when a man ran up to Seth and gave him some sort of report and just got yelled at in response.

“Uh, Roman?” Dean asked from the earpiece. “Is that who I think it is?”

Roman watched as Seth grabbed the key from the valet and hopped in his car before speeding off. He let the binoculars fall from his eyes, but he continued to stare at the building, not quite comprehending what he saw.

“Roman!” Dean yelled, snapping him out of his stupor. “What the fuck is going on?”

“I-” Roman took a breath in an attempt to calm himself down. “I don’t know.”

“Roman, we just saw Seth – YOUR HUSBAND – exit a government spy agency and bark orders at one of his lackeys. It’s safe to say he works there or at least has connections. Geez, did you run a background check on this guy before marrying him?”

“I did!” Roman snapped, and then rubbed his temples. “Just a basic one, but nothing triggered any alarms! This doesn’t make sense. I’m sure there’s an explanation-”

“Don’t be stupid, Roman! Either you are his cover or you - and this agency - is his mark. You gotta fix this pronto because we have to report this to the boss.”

Roman sighed. “I’ll fix it. I’ll get answers.”

Just then, his phone chirped and Roman pulled it out of his jacket pocket to see a text from Seth.

_Dinner’s at 8, babe. Don’t be late. :)_

Roman’s grip on his phone tightened. He packed up his stuff quickly and left the apartment in a hurry, leaving the tenant shaken. He was gonna get some answers, alright.

\---

When Roman arrived at his home, Seth’s car was already in the driveway. He parked his car, put on his wedding ring (which he _did_ leave in the showers), fixed his clothes out of routine, and scoped the area for potential threats before heading inside.

When he entered the house and walked into the kitchen, Seth was at the counter, in the middle of slicing some beef. Roman’s vision zeroed in on the knife as he watched Seth slice into the meat with precision.

“Hey, baby,” Seth said as he put the knife down and turned to look at Roman.

Roman looked up at Seth’s smiling face and he tried to look for any sign there, whether it be distress or anger or the telltale red flags of someone hiding something, but there was nothing out of the ordinary there.

“You’re on time today,” Seth praised as he stepped closer to kiss Roman’s slack lips. Roman waited for a blow, but nothing came. Still, Seth was being weird. Usually, when they had a fight, Seth would let it drag out for at least a week and Roman would be the one to fix things. Tonight, however, he was being fake-nice. The kind of fake-nice that he and Roman put on for their boring neighbors. “A bit early, even.”

“I missed you,” Roman said, letting some flirtatious playfulness slip into his voice as Seth sidestepped him.

Seth hummed, and it was slightly mocking. “I missed you, too. I hope you don’t mind, but I picked up dinner from that place you like on Montrose. I didn’t have time to cook anything tonight.”

“How come?”

Seth shrugged as he turned to pull two glasses from the cabinet. “A little trouble at work.”

“I hope it was nothing serious,” Roman said as he watched Seth make them some martinis.

“It was, but I can handle it,” Seth replied, with a touch of sharpness in his voice. “I always do.”

“Oh!” Roman said as he held his hand up for Seth to see his platinum wedding band. “Found my ring!”

He watched as Seth’s carefully guarded expression faltered, revealing… _something_. Roman couldn’t place what that something was because it only lasted for a while before Seth quickly composed himself and gave Roman a bright smile.

“And here I was thinking that you didn’t care anymore, but you’re on time with your ring in tow,” Seth said with more of that mocking praise.

“I’ll never stop caring,” Roman replied, his tone deadly serious. “Even if you decide to stop.”

Seth’s body went rigid and he took a few deep breaths before he forced himself to smile wider. “Good. Now, go wash up so we can eat. Tonight’s a special night.”

“Is it?” Roman asked as he shrugged off his jacket.

“Yes,” Seth said as he took a sip of his martini and handed Roman the other glass. “I can’t wait to talk to you about it.”


	3. Chapter 3

Seth’s heart was racing. His palms were sweaty as he dished out food for Roman, but he kept his cool. This is what he was trained for. Roman was now a mission. This wasn’t just about him anymore. This was about his agency, his job.

Despite his cool exterior, Seth was having trouble keeping himself together. He was hurt, but more than that, he was pissed off. Pissed that Roman had been lying to him all this time. Pissed that he was probably just a long-winded mission to Roman and the last 5 or 6 years of his life meant nothing to the other man.

Seth’s hands began to shake with barely concealed rage and he accidentially dropped his spoon of mashed potatoes on the table.

“Shit,” He said as he began to wipe the mess up with a dinner napkin.

“Why don’t you relax, baby?” Roman suggested. “Let me finish serve dinner. You look exhausted.”

Seth nodded once, irritated, and sat down. He watched Roman closely as the other man began filling their plates.

“So, how was your day?” Seth asked, genuinely curious to hear the lie Roman had to tell. “You came home looking a little frazzled.”

“We had a bit of trouble. Nothing too big, but it’s slightly annoying.” Roman said as he dished out some green beans. Seth held up his hands to let Roman know he didn’t want any, but Roman put some on his plate anyway. Seth’s anger was approaching critical stages.

“Well, I hope everything worked out ok.” Seth said, as politely as possible, playing the role of attentive husband.

“It hasn’t yet,” Roman said before he licked some spilled gravy off of his fingers and sat down again. “But it will.”

Seth downed his martini, ignoring Roman’s raised eyebrows. He needed another one, but he had to stay alert in case Roman decided to act. Seth could defend himself under almost any condition, but drunk with a heavy heart probably wasn’t one of them.

He watched Roman with faux-fondness as the other man began to dig in to his meal. Seth picked up his fork and began to take small bites off his own plate, masking his lack of appetite. As he watched Roman eat his beef, he wished he had enough time to lace the food with some sleeping aid.

They ate in silence for a while, the air in the room thick with suspicion. Roman was digging in as if nothing was wrong, and Seth was thankful for that. He didn’t want Roman to get suspicious. He had to keep him complacent until Seth was ready to go in for the kill.

Would he be able to go in for the kill? Roman might have faked his feelings for Seth, but Seth’s feelings were real. He loved Roman. Loved him with everything he was. But this was kill or be killed. Seth couldn’t allow himself to feel.

Especially not for an assassin.

 

* * *

 

 

“So, you ready to tell me why tonight is so special?” Roman asked after a while. “Does it require wine? Because that’ll give me an excuse to pour a second glass.”

Seth smiled at him and Roman thought that it looked strained. Did Seth think that he was doing a great job at schooling his features? Roman could see right through him. Something was eating away at Seth.

Maybe it was because Roman sent his agent back to him with a tracker and bruises that’ll last for a long time. Maybe it was because he blew his own damn cover by sending an agent in the first place.

Roman stood up and grabbed their bottle of wine for the night.

“2005 Bodegas Roda Cirsion?” Roman asked as he popped open the bottle. It was one of the wines he’d picked up for Seth last year from Spain for their anniversary. It was expensive as hell, but he’d gotten it for free because his hit had offered it to him in a gesture of friendship before he discovered Roman was there to kill him and not to sell him diamonds. Roman had to wipe a few specs of blood off of it before he gave it to Seth, but, at the time, Roman thought that what Seth didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. “It must really be a special night. If we weren’t already married, I’d think you were about to propose.”

“You already beat me to it,” Seth said lightly, watching Roman like a hawk as he poured himself a glass, then moved to the other end of the table towards Seth. “Happiest day of my life.”

“Was it?” Roman asked as he poured the deep red wine into Seth’s class.

“It was.” Seth affirmed.

Roman didn’t reply because in the corner of his eye, he could see Seth’s left hand move from the table to his lap and it was a telltale sign of Seth reaching for a weapon. Roman, too, had a weapon ready. He had a gun tucked in his jacket and the knife that he used to cut his beef tucked under his sleeve.

Better to be safe than sorry.

Roman was tired of this game, and judging by the intense look on Seth’s face and the fact that he reached for his weapon, so was he. Roman let the expensive bottle of wine slip out of his grasp, intending to cause a distraction so he’d have the upper hand, but to his surprise, Seth caught it before it could hit the floor.

Roman stared at Seth and the other man stared back, seemingly a little shocked at his own reflexes and pissed off at himself for giving up the charade. There was a short span of seconds where all they could do was stare at each other before Seth opened his hand and let the bottle fall, the red liquid staining their expensive white rug.

“I’ll get it!” Roman said, ignoring the red, wet splash across his khakis as Seth ran off in the other direction saying something that sounded vaguely like, “I’ll get a towel!”

Roman ran off to duck into the downstairs bathroom so he could shrug off his jacket and pull out his gun. He heard footsteps and he poked his head cautiously out of the bathroom door to check that the coast was clear before he ventured out.

“Seth?” Roman called out, his gun cocked and ready for any nasty surprises. “Baby?”

He walked down the hallway quietly, scanning the area around him. His ears, trained to pick up even the slightest of noises, couldn’t hear anything for a time that seemed to stretch forever. When Roman hit the grand foyer, however, he heard the garage door opening.

“Shit!” He spat as he sprinted to the front door. By the time he opened the door, Seth was already pulling off, skidding down their driveway and into the quiet suburban street.

“Oh, no you don’t, you asshole!” Roman gritted out as he ran through Mr. and Mrs. Kidd’s lawn, getting soaked by their sprinklers on the way. He cut through their yard when he saw Seth turn the corner, intending to intercept him before he could get too far. He jumped through rosebushes, kicked lawn ornaments out of the way, and hopped over shrubs to get to the next street over and he reached just in time as Seth came speeding down the block.

“Seth!” He yelled as he did something stupid and ran in front of the car. Thankfully, Seth mashed the brakes before he rammed the car into Roman. Roman barely bad any time to feel relieved, however, before Seth pointed his gun out the window and fired at him.

The bullet missed him and either his husband had poor aim, or it was a warning shot. Either way, Roman was fucking pissed.

He fired back his own warning shot, letting Seth know that he was not going to back down. The bullet went through the windshield and hit the backseat and Seth had the audacity to stare at the hole with a shocked and hurt expression that transformed into rage as he floored the accelerator and sent his Hybrid barreling towards Roman.

Roman tried to drive out of the way but Seth actually turned the car to make sure it hit him. To avoid getting pinned between the car and the Johnsons’ fence, Roman jumped up on the car before it could crash into him and hung on for dear life as Seth turned the car back onto the road and sped down the street.

“Seth, stop the car!” He yelled through the sunroof as he hung onto the roof of the vehicle, trying not to slide off.

Seth was inside the car yelling. Whether it was at Roman or himself, Roman didn’t know. Suddenly, as if he couldn’t take Roman’s voice above him anymore, he closed the sunroof, and sped up, swerving wildly through the thankfully deserted streets.

Roman chanced losing his grip on the roof and broke the back window before he dove through it, landing awkwardly on the backseat. Seth kept one hand on the wheel and pointed his pistol at Roman again with the other. Roman barely had time to push Seth’s hand away as he fired three shots, shattering the backseat window. He knocked Seth’s hand against the headrest a few times, putting enough pressure to hurt him, but not enough to break his wrist. Seth dropped the gun and Roman tried to wrap his arm around Seth’s throat from the backseat, but Seth bit him hard.

Roman hissed and pulled his arm away. “You son of a –”

Before he could finish his sentence, Seth opened the car door and dove out of the car, hitting the ground hard and rolling. Roman stared at him in disbelief out of the rear window as the driverless car sped through a ‘ROAD END’ sign and crashed into a lake bank.

 

* * *

 

 

“Your next target, Mr. Rollins,” Hunter began as he laid several folders out in front of Seth on the desk. Hunter never called him or anyone in the agency by their post-marriage surnames. Seth was thankful for that now. “Roman Reigns. Birth name omitted, birth date omitted, birth place: Apia, Samoa. Current residence…” He paused and folded his arms. “I’m sure you know.”

Seth swallowed thickly and forced himself to remain steely. He couldn’t let Hunter know he was affected. He was a spy first, everything else second. If he couldn’t get Roman out of his head and do his job, what was the point of him?

“He is an assassin with an estimated 95 worldwide kills under his belt, and those are just confirmed numbers. We believe he’s been using you to get to our agency and our agents. Who knows how much information you’ve already unintentionally given him.”

“When I got married, you told me to never reveal anything to my spouse. I’ve kept my word. I haven’t told him anything, sir. Everything in the house is locked up behind security codes.”

Hunter gave Seth an unimpressed look. “Maybe the security codes are enough for an inquisitive civilian, but Roman is not just a regular husband, now is he?”

Seth clenched his jaw and didn’t reply because he knew Hunter was right. All the information and weapons he had locked up in the house… Roman probably knew all about it. Was probably relaying everything back to his ring of spies and assassins for years. It made Seth that much angrier and he clenched his fists as his sides.

“You’ve put this agency at risk. Therefore, I’ve decided to take you out of field work and transfer you to France until I see fit that you’ve paid your dues and that you’re ready to return.” Hunter pushed one of the folders towards him and Seth opened it silently. Inside was a passport and an ID with his brand new identity. “Before you leave, however, you have to tie up loose ends. Get everything out of the house - every document, every weapon, every form of identification - and burn it down. Leave Roman’s body inside it after you kill him.”

“Yes, sir,” Seth whispered before he cleared his throat in an attempt to get rid of the lump that was forming there. “I’ll get on it as soon as possible.”

* * *

 

Roman knew that going back to the house was a bad idea, especially after reviewing Seth’s file in full detail. Seth was a dangerous man and so was the agency he worked for, but Roman would bet all he had that they weren’t more dangerous than him.

He went back to the house to clean out. A part of himself also went back to see if Seth was going to be there. He wanted answers. If he got the right answers, he’d let Seth walk away with minor injuries. If he got the wrong answers, however…

He checked the shed first because that’s where most of his weapons were hidden. Of course, everything there had been cleaned out. Roman supposed it was his fault for not having everything locked up tight, but he also didn’t expect his Archaeologist husband to be a motherfucking spy, so there was that.

Thankfully, he had his trusty glock with him and his semi-automatic pistol. Not his usuals, but they’ll get the job done.

_The job._

Seth was now a job.

Roman ignored the clench in his heart as he opened the front door. He was expecting Seth to be there, aiming a gun at his face, but the foyer was empty. He was beginning to make his way slowly down the hallway when he heard a stair creak. He plastered his back against the hallway wall and listened closely as Seth descended down the stairs quietly. As soon as the footsteps stopped, Roman edged to the bottom of the stairs and grabbed a photo of he and Seth on their honeymoon in New Zealand a few years back and tried to use it as a mirror to see if he could get a look at Seth around the corner. Before he could get a clear view, however, the other man fired his shotgun, barely missing Roman’s hand. Roman dropped the mirror and barely had time to move out of the way before Seth fired two more times, both times narrowly missing Roman as he scrambled to get out of the way.

Roman waited for the firing to stop before he took his chance. He put his gun through the brand new hole in the wall and fired twice before he walked backwards down the hallway, avoiding a few more of Seth’s gunshots. Seth ran down the stairs and ducked and rolled as Roman fired at him, destroying all of their pictures and expensive artwork.

There was a moment of silence and Roman refused to look around the corner into the dining room to see if he’d made himself a widower.

“You still alive, baby boy?” Roman called out, swapping his guns and scanning the area.

“Unfortunately for you.” Seth said from the dining room. “Your aim is shit, honey. Just like your cooking.”

Roman laughed and walked backwards into the office where there was another door that would take him into the living room and then into the kitchen. If he moved quickly, he could flank Seth and get the upper hand.

He’d only set one foot into the kitchen when Seth fired at him again. Roman opened the fridge and took cover behind it as Seth shot up the kitchen door, making a mess of their marble tiles. He dropped down on all fours and crawled behind the island. When Seth paused to reload, Roman seized the opportunity to fire at him. One of his last bullets grazed Seth’s shoulder and the other man swore and ducked behind the wall.

Roman was out of bullets and Seth now had a reloaded weapon. A regular person would have been screwed, but Roman wasn’t out of resources yet. He reached under the island stove and pulled the gas tube out, letting gas fill up space in front of him. He took cover and when Seth fired at him again, the air in front of him went up in flames, sending Seth scrambling back to avoid being burnt to a crisp.

Roman wasted no time. Before the flames could die down, he attacked Seth with a flying knee, knocking the other man back into the china cabinet. He hit Seth with a punch to the gut and when he doubled over, he tried to knee him in his face. Seth blocked the knee, however and wrapped his arms around Roman’s waist and used all of his strength to tackle the man into the opposite wall. As Roman struggled to get his bearings, Seth grabbed a vase and attempted to hit Roman with it, but Roman blocked it with his forearm and grabbed Seth before he slammed him like a ragdoll into the already destroyed china cabinet and then swung him again, slamming him up against the wall, knocking over more of their expensive art. Seth lashed out, hitting Roman with an elbow and when he reeled back, he kneed him in the groin, laughing when Roman grabbed his crotch and groaned in pain.

“That hurt, baby?” Seth taunted before he upper cut Roman, sending him stumbling back before he landed on his ass, dazed.

“That’s it?” Seth mocked as he came closer, stepping over glass. “I expected more of a fight out of you. Come on, get up.” Seth stopped walking and made a ‘come on’ motion with his hands. “Come to daddy.”

Roman saw a ceramic jug that had somehow avoided getting destroyed in the crossfire. He picked it up and swung it at Seth, hitting the other man square in the head and shattering it into tiny pieces. While Seth was dazed, Roman grabbed him by his shirt and head-butt him before kicking him back into the dining table.

“Who’s your daddy now?” Roman growled before he took off down the hall to find Seth’s abandoned gun.

Seth scrambled up and was right behind him the entire time and he managed to slide and kick the gun away from Roman before he could reach it. Roman turned around to hit Seth, but the other man dodged the punch and tackled him to the floor. He straddled Roman’s waist and used his weight to pin him to the floor as he threw a few punches at him. Only one of his hits connected with Roman’s jaw before he blocked the other and rolled them over. Seth wrapped an arm around Roman’s neck, putting him in a sleeper hold as he wrapped his legs around his waist and locked himself in. Roman’s breathing became labored and he had to use all of his strength to pick them up off the floor. He tried to shake Seth off, but the other man was hooked on tight.

Desperate to get him off, Roman charged towards all the walls in the room. Seth hooked on for dear life, wishing Roman would just go to sleep already, until Roman slammed them into the grandfather clock in the sitting room, finally dislodging him.

They were both panting, tired and exhausted from their fight. They stared at each other, wondering what it would take to get the upper hand. Roman’s mind clicked back to the gun and apparently, so did Seth’s. They both took off in the direction of Seth’s gun, but Roman reached it first.

He pointed the gun at Seth, his hand on the trigger. One shot and he’d be dead. One shot and Roman could forget this shit ever happened.

“Do it.” Seth gritted out. “You’re the big, bad assassin, right? Complete your mission.”

He had blood on his face and a scrape on his cheek. His clothes were a bit singed from the fire and his eyes were welling up with tears as he stared at Roman defiantly.

“Do it!” Seth yelled again. He looked frustrated, confused, and hurt. “Please, just fucking get it over with.”

“I can’t,” Roman said to himself more than to Seth. “I can’t do it.”

“Don’t!” Seth yelled and he stepped forward to slam his fists against Roman’s chest. “You son of a bitch! It was all fake wasn’t it? The last 5 or 6 years or whatever! It meant nothing to you!”

“I didn’t know who you were!” Roman said as he dropped his gun to his side.

Seth stared at his lowered hand angrily before he slapped Roman hard. Roman’s head snapped to the side and he could feel blood welling up in his mouth. He brushed his hair out of his eye and he licked his bleeding lip, ignoring his instinct to retaliate.

“You manipulated me. You made me feel like it was real. Fuck you!” Seth was crying now, and Roman was close to falling apart, too. Mainly because he’d never seen Seth this hurt. He’d never seen him cry. Not since their engagement. And even then, that was from happiness. Were the tears even real?

Even if this was all a game, Roman loved Seth and seeing him cry made him hurt.

“It was real.” Roman insisted. “I love you. You’re the one who… You…” Roman paused, confused. Could this just be a huge misunderstanding? What were the odds?

Seth grabbed the gun while Roman was distracted and pointed it at him. “I told you to do it.”

“You don’t want to shoot me.” Roman said. He hoped he was right. He hoped Seth was being genuine. He hoped Seth was really his husband and that Roman wasn’t just a mission to him.

“I hate you,” Seth spat and he flinched when Roman stepped closer, but he didn’t shoot.

_He didn’t shoot._

“You don’t.” Roman insisted as he pushed Seth’s shaking hand and the gun out of his face. “You don’t.”

Roman grabbed the back of Seth’s neck and pulled him in to crash their lips together. Distantly, he could hear the gun clatter to the floor as Seth’s arms wrapped around his neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm like 99% sure that I have one chapter left of this!


	4. Chapter 4

Spies shouldn’t be trusted. Roman knew that.

They were trained to blend in and lie their way into people’s minds, their hearts. Roman knew it was a bad idea to trust Seth, but he had no other choice. He was weak. Weak to the tears in Seth’s eyes and the new bruises on his body that Roman had just put there. He was weak to Seth’s busted lip and the taste of his blood in Roman’s mouth.

Fuck, Roman was in love. He was so in love and, even though he never stopped loving Seth, the lust between them had dimmed in the last year or so, but now… now it was like they were in Mexico again, when their bodies were slick with rain and sticky sweat and their mouths were hot from tequila and the spicy food they’d gotten from the bar where they first met.

Roman knew that Seth could kill him, if he wanted. He was vulnerable at the moment, mind preoccupied with the way Seth’s body felt against his, how his hands - the same hands that probably had the same amount of blood on them that he has on his - carded through his hair.

They tripped over glass, shotgun shells, broken wood, expensive marble, and wall plaster as they kissed and held onto each other for dear life. Roman had begun to tear at Seth’s clothes, desperate to free the span of skin, marked with blood and bruises, but somehow still flawless.

Seth was still crying when Roman lift him up and put him on the antique bar that his husband had always bitched about keeping clean. Roman knocked over all the shot glasses and decorative items because none of it mattered anymore. None of that shit mattered. The bar, the expensive fridge, the artwork, the fucking half-built deck in the back, the ruined house... it was all bullshit. All that mattered was Seth and his flushed face and the expressions he made when Roman sank to his knees in front of him.

They were always pretty aggressive when they had sex, and this time was no different. In fact, they were even more so now because they knew the other could take it. Seth pulled him in close, clawing at his back and demanding  _ more, Roman, more _ . They were both shaking from their combined anger and pure, unfiltered lust and Seth was loud. So loud that their neighbors had to have heard. But, Roman didn’t care. Not when Seth was hot and tight around him from the hasty prep, but still somehow desperate for Roman to go faster and give it to him harder. Not when Seth was whispering how much he loved him, but still shaking his head in disbelief when Roman kept repeating,  _ “It was real, it was real, I love you, it was real” _ . Not when Seth was clinging to him like a lifeline, like he needed him, his short nails leaving angry crescents into his skin.

Afterwards, Roman was so bone-tired that all he could do was collapse on top of Seth on the kitchen floor. He wasn’t sure how they ended up back in the kitchen again, but he couldn’t concentrate on that. How could he when Seth was still sobbing, his usual facade of greatness and vanity shattered into a beautiful, sad mess. He was slick with blood, sweat, come, and tears and he looked so sleepy. All Roman could do was roll them over so Seth was on top (so he wouldn’t feel smothered and trapped and could escape if he wanted to) and fall asleep.

\---

Seth woke up to the smell of coffee and he was surprised to still be alive.

He remembered crying himself to sleep, fucked out and confused, and he was embarrassed about how hard he clung to Roman’s arms last night, but at the time, he supposed his tears and neediness were justified. He had a dream that Roman (not his safe IT gentle giant husband Roman, but the dangerous killer Roman) choked him while he slept. He rubbed his neck, but there was no pain. He heard shuffling behind him and he turned just in time to see Roman kneel down behind him.

“I made you some coffee.” Roman said like it was a normal day. Like Seth wasn’t completely naked and Roman’s clothes weren’t ripped and stained with multiple vulgar substances. “Added all the sugar you wanted.”

Roman usually chided him for adding too much sugar to his teas and coffees. 

Seth took the chipped mug and stared down at it. He wondered if it was poison. Poisoning someone was a spy tactic, though, not something a hands-on assassin would resort to. If Roman wanted Seth dead, Seth would be dead. He’d kill Seth with his own hands.

Seth sipped the coffee and let the warmth heat up his chilly insides. The windows were shattered and the cool autumn air filled the house. There was a long, heavy silence as Seth watched Roman closely. He kept expecting Roman to make a sudden move but nothing came. Roman just stared at him.

“My real name is Leakee.” Roman said suddenly, and he looked down as if he was bashful. Seth thought his reaction was odd, but it instantly made him seem honest. “I’m a hitman, or an assassin, but you already knew that.” He paused and looked up again and he stared at Seth as if he was reading his expression before he went on. “I have a body count of about 97, and I know it doesn’t make it better to say that they were all bad people, but it is what it is. I don’t have any remorse.”

Seth wondered how a remorseless killer could be the same as his Roman. His gentle, sweet Roman who didn’t even like to kill spiders.

“I’m Tyler,” Seth said quietly. It’d been a while since he referred to himself by that name. It felt weird and foreign on his tongue. It felt like a lie, even though it was the truth. “I’m an agent for the INO.” He paused and decided to explain. “International Operations. I’m a spy. I don’t have much of a body count, because I’m mainly trained in infiltration and interrogation, but my hands are dirty too.”

Roman looked down at his hands which had a firm grip on the cracked mug. Without much preamble, he walked around the counter and took one of Seth’s hands in his. He grazed his thumb against the bruised knuckles before he shook his hand gently. “Nice to meet you, Tyler.”

Seth smiled and when Roman smiled back, he fell in love with him all over again.

“I’m sorry I said your cooking was shit,” Seth whispered as Roman knelt down in front of him on the floor.

“I don’t care,” Roman whispered before he brushed Seth’s hair back. “I’m sorry I shot you.”

Seth looked down at his shoulder and noticed it had a bandage on it that Roman must have put on him while he slept. He looked back up and caught Roman’s gaze.

“I’ve been shot before, man.” He said and Roman laughed as he swung a leg over Seth’s lap so he could straddle him. “It’s just a graze.”

His stomach felt warm and tangled up as Roman leaned down to kiss him. Despite the shattered house, his multiple cuts and bruises, and the discomfort of the hard floors, Seth felt almost serene. The only thing that mattered was Roman in his lap and the way his goatee rubbed against Seth’s face. The way Roman grabbed and removed the mug from his hands and laced their fingers together.

They had sex again, but this time it was gentler, softer.

Seth took his time preparing Roman, wanting to hear every moan and hiss his husband was willing to give. He rarely had Roman like this, not that it was a problem because they were both comfortable in their usual sexual roles, but sometimes it was good to switch around and it felt a lot more intimate and intense and  _ new _ . Seth felt like he was getting to know Roman for the first time. Like they’d just met.

Technically, they did.

When they were finished, Roman rolled over like a big cat and started listing off the random injuries he’d received during his profession while his hands roamed over Seth’s body. Seth traced every scar in return (scars that Roman had said were from playing football, and really, how stupid was Seth for believing that?) and periodically dropped kisses on him because he felt like he couldn’t get enough for some reason. He hadn’t felt like this around Roman in a year, maybe two.

“You ever have trouble sleeping after?” Seth asked as he finally sat up, but he stayed close so Roman could continue to touch and squeeze him. “After a kill?”

Roman sat up as well and didn’t even take a moment to hesitate with his answer. “Nope.”

It should have been disturbing, but it wasn’t. Not for Seth, at least. He knew a rational person would have felt a handful of negative feelings, but he wasn’t a regular person.

“Yeah, me neither.”

Couple of the year, they were.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a window shatter before a smoke grenade was launched through the only intact window in the kitchen. Seth would have laughed at that if his instinct didn’t immediately kick in and he pulled away from Roman. They barely had time to get themselves together before fire opened up from the outside in, smashing already broken bits of drywall and glass and ruining their kitchen beyond remodeling status.

Seth felt Roman grab him and they both ducked down as they scrambled out of the kitchen with their heads down low.

“Basement,” Roman whispered into his ear above the gunfire, and no... That was a horrible idea.

Seth turned to stare at him. “No. If they come down there, we’re trapped!”

Roman pushed him down and landed on top of him as a few bullets went whooshing over their heads.

“I have guns down there, honey,” Roman said patiently and Seth scowled because how patronizing. “And clothes.”

“You have guns in our basement?!” Seth asked, a little pissed off. Not because Roman stored his murder shit in the house, but because Seth searched the house for them and couldn’t find them. They were in the basement the whole time!

“It was the only place in the house you didn’t care about!” Roman said as he got up and yanked Seth towards the basement when the shooters paused their gunfire to launch more grenades into the house.

They made their way to the basement door and yanked it open before they scrambled down the stairs, nearly tripping over their feet.

“Grab the clothes in the dryer, I’ll grab the weapons!” Roman said as he started off in the other direction.

Seth did as he was told. Grabbing out a handful of clothes and pulling on the first things he could find. Mostly everything he put on were Roman’s so they were a little big on him, but he didn’t care. Once he was dressed, he grabbed a pair of dirty jeans from the nearest basket and one of his t-shirts from the dryer and tossed it at Roman who came hustling towards him with two guns.

“Here, load these!” Roman said as he rushed to get dressed.

Seth loaded the guns, his hands steady despite the sounds of the men breaking in upstairs. The second they were ready, they heard the basement door open. They both turned to aim their guns, waiting for the first idiot to come through. Instead of a person, however, a tiny bomb came tumbling down the stairs.

The countdown on the tiny thing started at 5 and by the time it reached 3, Roman seemed to act on instinct and kicked it away from them. The bomb rolled directly underneath a tank of fuel oil and if the look Seth shot his ridiculous husband could kill.

“Really?!” Seth snapped as Roman grabbed him and pulled him towards the cellar door.

They burst through the doors guns blazing, not really knowing what to expect. Seth barely had time to take in his surroundings, but he shot whoever he could before he felt someone heavy tackle him to the floor and then the bomb went off behind him, blasting them into darkness.

\---

_ “Baby? Roman?” _

Roman blinked slowly, his vision hazy. His body thrummed with pain and his ears were ringing, but over the noise, he could hear Seth’s voice.

“Rome, get up!” Seth said, sounding slightly panicked. “We have to move. I can’t lift you!”

Roman’s sight cleared and he saw Seth’s face hovering above him looking singed and distressed.

“You’re beautiful,” He whispered, and he wasn’t sure why he said it. He felt a little woozy, so he’d probably taken a bad blow to the head. “Can I just lay here for a minute?”

Seth rolled his eyes, but he smiled. “No, big guy, come on. Police are on their way. We gotta get moving.”

Roman let Seth help him up and they both stared at what used to be their house.

“My deck…” Roman whispered.

“My marble floors…” Seth grumbled. He looked genuinely upset that their perfect illusion was shattered, so Roman laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“We weren’t meant for this lifestyle anyway, babe,” Roman said quietly. “It was killing us”

“I know,” Seth replied. “I just… wanted to be normal. I wanted to give you that life.”

Roman turned to look at Seth for a while before kissed him next to the cut on his head. “Come on. Let’s go.”

They stole the Kidd’s minivan and sped off. Not really going in any particular direction, but just trying to get away.

“They were my people,” Seth said after about an hour of driving. It had been a quiet, tense ride. Roman tried to initiate a conversation several times, but Seth was too lost in his thoughts. “One of the guys laying dead on our lawn… his mask came off after the explosion or something. I recognized him. I’d overseen his training last year.” Seth’s voice trailed off as he stared out the window.

Roman let a thick silence fill the van for a few minutes before he pulled over to the side of the road. He parked the car and turned to look at Seth carefully. “Were they trying to make sure you did the job or were they trying to get rid of the both of us?”

“Both.” Seth said. “I mean, if I didn’t report back in a timely matter, they probably assumed I was dead or a traitor. Either way, any survivors in the house and anything I had left in the house had to be dealt with. They probably know I’m still alive by now. They’re probably taking my silence as a letter of resignation.” He laughed humorlessly and tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. “I put everything into my job only for it to end with them trying to kill me.”

“I can protect you,” Roman said abruptly. “You can work for us and we can make sure they don’t find you. Ever.”

“Work for whoever the hell you work for?” Seth grumbled, giving Roman an unimpressed look. “I’m a spy, Roman, not an assassin!”

“Don’t get on a high horse!” Roman growled, turning the key in the ignition to start the car again. “Your hands are dirty too, baby, so don’t act like you’re so high class. I’m just trying to help.”

“You can’t help!” Seth snapped. “Everything I worked for just went up in flames! My career, all of my work relationships, that house-”

“Not your marriage,” Roman reminded him. “Not yet.”

It was a warning and Seth heard it loud and clear. Roman was right, though. He’d lost everything, but he still had Roman. That was why he was willing to lose everything in the first place. Because he loved his husband. More than anything.

“I’m sorry,” He said, running a hand through his messy hair. “I’m just… this is crazy. I don’t know what I’m gonna do. They’ve probably bumped you up to their most wanted. I don’t know how to protect you. I have no more connections.” Seth paused and bit his nail. “I wish we could just disappear.” 

Roman was quiet for a while again before he spoke up. “We can. I mean, I’m already practically invisible, but if you wanted to go totally off the grid, we can do it. It’s what we both wanted, right? We tried to force it with this suburban lifestyle we had going on, but now we have an opportunity to do it the right way. We can go anywhere we want, baby.”

Seth felt a quick spark of excitement before it fizzled. “Roman, I can’t ask you to leave your job.” Roman held his gaze. “I love you. I want to grow old with you. Maybe adopt a couple kids in a decade or so. Teach them to play football and how to break someone’s arm in three places if they get handsy.”

Seth grinned and brought a hand up to stroke Roman’s goatee. Roman turned to kiss his bruised wrist. 

“If you want to work with me, that’s fine. If you want to retire together now and disappear, that’s fine too. All long as I’m with you, I’m cool.”

"I don't know if I'm ready to retire, yet. I guess having a choice now is good." Seth smiled and bit his bottom lip, his whole body thrumming with adoration. “You’re a sap.”

“That’s why you agreed to marry me, yeah?” Roman asked as he entwined their fingers together, their rings touching ever so slightly. “Any regrets?”

Seth smiled. “No. Not one.”

Roman pulled back and put the car back in drive. “I’m gonna introduce you to my guys. They’ll help us.”

“Are you sure they're not gonna kill me on sight?” 

“Despite the fact that we kill for a living, we’re actually a cool bunch.” Roman said as he pulled off onto the highway again. “Can’t wait for you to meet Dean. The  _ real  _ Dean, not the guy he was pretending to be at my wedding.”

“The doctor?”

Roman smirked. “He’s not a doctor.”

“I figured that much. He didn’t sound like he knew what he was talking about.” Seth rolled his eyes and remembered the annoying guy with the receding hairline who stared at Seth as if he didn’t trust him. 

Dean was right about him. 

Seth didn’t like people that could see through him. 

“I don’t think I will like him much.” Seth grumbled. “What if he shoots me?”

“He won’t shoot you.” Roman insisted. 

Seth scrunched up his nose and stared out the window as the trees zoomed by. 

“Roman…” He started, then stopped because he didn’t know how to put his thoughts into a coherent sentence. “Can this really work? You make it sound so easy, but… Let’s say we do restart our lives, what then? What if we can’t trust each other anymore? And our marriage was a mess, Roman. We started to disdain each other. What’s to say we won’t start again?”

“Yeah, we had a crap marriage towards the end,” Roman said after a while. “You’re controlling and snobby, and I’m too nonchalant and thickheaded. But our personalities isn’t what ruined us. It was our lies. It was that huge expensive house and the neighbors we secretly hated. It was the fact that you thought I was cheating.”

Seth stared ahead at the big span of roads in front of them, mind working overtime. 

“You love me?” Roman asked.

“Yes,” Seth said without hesitation.

Roman took a hand off the wheel to wrap it around Seth’s shoulder. “That’s all I need.”

Seth leaned into Roman’s embrace and closed his eyes. He knew that Roman loved him too, and he decided that that was all he needed as well.

 

**Epilogue**

_ Six months later... _

 

“Good evening, beautiful. Can I buy you a new drink?”

Seth discreetly rolled his eyes and took his last sip of his rum and coke. “Sure.”

The guy pulled out his wallet and made a show of pulling out his money. He was an older gentleman with grey hair and bright blue mischievous eyes. His suit was Armani, probably worth a couple thousand.

Honestly, Seth was flattered someone of his stature was interested in him.

“Remy Guilloux,” The man said in his heavily accented voice as he paid for Seth’s drink. “I own this lounge.” 

Seth smiled, easy and flirtatious, and turned to look at him. “Do you? It’s a nice place.”

“Not as nice as you.”

Seth looked down and away, smiling meekly at the compliment. “Thank you. And thank you for the drink. I must go now. I’m meeting someone.”

“Surely, I can persuade you to stay a little longer. I have a penthouse upstairs. I’d enjoy your company for a little while.”

“I don’t do ‘a little while’,” Seth said. “And, if you want me to come upstairs, hopefully, neither do you.”

Remy smiled, slow and skeevy, and he rest a ring-decorated hand on Seth’s thigh. “Let’s go then,  _ mon cher _ , and I’ll show you that neither do I.”

\--

The penthouse was fancy with 14 foot walls and glass everywhere. There were paintings on the wall, all expensive and unique, and Seth mulled one over as Remy poured them some wine.

“Your accent. I’ve always had a thing for American men. So bold, and a little - how should I say it… You all think you own the world. You don’t, but if you play your cards right, I can give you a piece of it.”

He laid a hand on Seth’s shoulder and Seth brushed him off gently, his change in demeanor surprising the other man. 

“This painting...” Seth started. “Edgar Renou, am I correct?”

“I’m sorry?” Remy asked, confused.

“Edgar Renou. He painted this. In 1874.” Seth said, turning to look at Remy. “I double majored in art history and archaeology in college.”

“Intelligent and stunning,” Remy said, trying to get things back on track. “I’ve hit the jackpot.”

Seth smirked, “My husband says the same thing.”

Remy, unsurprisingly, didn’t balk at Seth’s reveal. Seth had a whole file on the man with dozens of private information, including who he’d been screwing. Let’s just say that someone being married didn’t stop him from pursuing them. “How unlucky for him that you’re here tonight.”

Seth smiled and thought, ‘ _ How unlucky for  _ _you_ ’.

Just then, there was the sound of rummaging from the kitchen. Seth watched as Remy’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion before he pat Seth's shoulders gently. “Wait here,  _ mon lapin _ .” 

Seth nodded and kept his eyes on Remy’s other hand which had went to his gun under his jacket. 

Remy cautiously approached the kitchen, as Seth sipped the wine Remy had poured for him. Seth listened as there was a small crash followed by the sound of Remy’s yelp. After the shuffling was done, he made his way into the kitchen, taking his sweet time. There really wasn’t a reason to rush at this point.

Roman was standing in the middle of the kitchen with his black gear on, breathing harshly. Underneath him was Remy, looking utterly pathetic as he repeatedly pushed the distress signal on his watch.

“There’s no point in doing that,” Seth said as he looked around the kitchen. “Your security was wiped out an hour ago while you were busy trying to get me to notice you at your own establishment.”

Roman huffed out a quick laugh and Seth smiled back at him as if they were sharing an inside joke.

“My name is Seth,” He said as he took a seat on the counter. “He’s Roman. We have two completely different ways of dealing with people like you. If you give me the names of all the organizations and people you’ve sold your guns to, we’ll anonymously turn you over to the police. If you don’t cooperate, we’ll do things his way.

“And trust me,” Roman said as he knelt down to be at eye level with Remy. “My way is gonna leave this fancy kitchen bloody, so you better talk.”

Seth watched Remy hesitate and he pondered the depth of the man's pride. He’d rather be killed than be labeled a snitch and sent to prison, which wasn’t too outlandish. 

_'Ah well_ ,' Seth thought as Roman pushed Remy when he tried to scramble up and run away. They would be doing the world a favor either way. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end. Thanks for sticking around.

**Author's Note:**

> [come say hi to me on tumblr!](http://niajaxx.tumblr.com)


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